What is Day-Of Wedding Coordination?

03/04/15posted by julianne

Today, we are talking about professional wedding day lifesavers also known as day-of wedding coordinators! “Day-of” is one of those industry terms that we in the biz throw around, but maybe you don’t know what that means and how these special planners can help you on your wedding day. When it comes to planning your wedding in the Washington DC area, a day-of coordinator steps in to handle details ­and execution on your wedding day so you can yours can sit back and relax! Our girls at Events in the City recently launched etc. coordinators, a new Washington DC area day-of wedding coordination firm. But, we’ll leave it to the pros to tell you more…

It’s no secret that the wedding planning community agrees that a “day-of” planner doesn’t really exist. How can everything just happen in one day or really even just a week for that matter? Our services at etc. coordinators start six weeks out from the date of the wedding. This gives us enough time to be filled in on where everything is at, plus ample time to catch mistakes or potential hiccups. Using this six week out time frame, allows us to gather the contracts that the clients have booked, review your needs, arrange for a final walk through with your key vendors, create a floor plan, accurate itinerary and then manage your personal details.

What can a day-of wedding planner do for me? How can they help?

One of our coordinators can help by bringing everything full circle and be a separate set of eyes on your wedding day details. Their goal is to slowly allow the client to release the reigns a bit and be able to be more present in those last pivotal weeks before their big day. By handing those details and responsibilities over to capable and experienced coordinator, the bride, groom and their families can truly be a guest at their event.

How is a day-of wedding planner different than a full or partial planner?

The day-of coordinators are there to wrangle the plans and vendors that you have put in place and execute your dream wedding day. While a full or partial planner would be holding your hand though out the planning process, designing your event, contracting vendors and managing budgets and more. A day-of coordinator is the perfect fit for clients that have done everything themselves, but then realize: “Who is going to set up my personal items?” or “Who will check in with the DJ when they are running late?”

What can I expect from a day-of wedding planner? In terms of my wedding planning, what will they help me with and what is my job to do?

Most of our clients for come to us with the majority of their wedding planning, budgeting and design work done. We don’t start working with our clients until six weeks before the wedding, so at that point there might be some loose ends to tie up with transportation or how escort cards will be displayed and that’s where we can come in and help to fill those gaps. It’s truly the logistics that coordinators will be managing from where and how things will be set up, which vendors need access to the loading dock first and how processionals or speeches should flow.

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Thanks so much for all this great advice, Laura! If you are in the market for a day-of wedding coordinator in Washington, DC, Maryland and/or Virginia, be sure to check out etc. coordinators!